Weekend in numbers

2 – Celtic defeated Hibernian 2-1 at Easter Road to close the gap at the top of the William Hill Premiership. Quickfire goals from Daizen Maeda and Arne Engels were enough to seal a victory which moves the Hoops two points behind Heart of Midlothian with a game in hand. This was Celtic’s third away win in a week in all competitions – they had previously gone four without victory on the road. Martin O’Neill has picked up four wins out of four in the league since returning to Parkhead – he’s still only halfway to matching his first spell at the club, where he started off with eight consecutive league wins.

3 – Dundee climbed to ninth in the William Hill Premiership thanks to a 3-1 victory over St Mirren at Dens Park. An Alex Gogic own goal was followed by goals from Drey Wright and Joe Westley, ending a run of four consecutive defeats for Steven Pressley’s side. The Dees also beat Saints 2-0 at Dens in April – the last time they managed back-to-back home wins over the Buddies was in Division 1 in August and December 2005. You have to go back almost two more decades to find the last time they did so in the top flight – that was in August and December 1986.

25 – Partick Thistle defeated Forfar Athletic 2-0 at Station Park to move into the 4th Round of the Scottish Cup. Ben Stanway and Alex Samuel scored the goals for Mark Wilson’s side as they set up a home clash with Montrose. The Jags have won each of their last 25 Scottish Cup ties against lower-league opposition – their last defeat came against Dundee in 1994/95, when Thistle were in the top flight and the Dees were in the second tier. Thistle are unbeaten in their last 15 matches against the Loons in all competitions – their last defeat was a 2-1 loss in SFL Division 2 back in February 1999.

1 – Cove Rangers pulled off one of the shocks of Scottish Cup Round 3 by beating St Johnstone 2-1 at McDiarmid Park. Uche Ikpeazu scored first for Saints, but Mitch Megginson took the match to extra time before Adam Emslie netted the winning goal to set up a Round 4 tie away to Kelty Hearts. This was the first competitive meeting of these sides, although Cove did beat Saints’ B team in the Challenge Cup in 2018/19. Cove have now won three of their last four away Scottish Cup ties against Championship opposition – they defeated Alloa Athletic in 2020/21 and Queen of the South in 2021/22 but lost to Livingston last season.

4 – Annan Athletic thumped Buckie Thistle 4-0 at Galabank to secure their place in the 4th Round of the Scottish Cup. A double from Tommy Muir and goals from Charlie Maxwell and Myles Gaffney helped Willie Gibson’s side cruise through to the next round, where they will travel to Ibrox. This was the Galabankies’ biggest winning margin in the Scottish Cup since they defeated the same opponents by the exact same scoreline in October 2013. Annan are now unbeaten in six home matches in all competitions – they have four wins and two draws since losing to Clyde in September.